Putin says Arctic must stay free from geopolitical gambling

The Russian leader says Moscow will remain committed to the peace development of the region.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would remain committed to the peaceful exploration of the Arctic on the condition its national interests are observed.

"I’m certain that the Arctic must be regarded as a space for an open and equitable dialog, based on the principles of universal and indivisible security, where there will be no place for geopolitical games by military blocs, backstage deals or struggle for spheres of influence," Putin said in a message of greeting to the participants in the international meeting of the Arctic Council’s member-states and observer countries and the international scientific community. The message was read out by the Russian Security Council’s secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, the Security Council’s press-service has told TASS.

Putin said that "Russia will remain committed to the peace development of the region, provided its own national interests are observed and the interests of all other countries unconditionally respected."

Putin believes that the stable development of the Arctic Region is acquiring special importance.

"It is crucial to the well-being of the Arctic States and other countries. The active role that the observer countries play in the Arctic Council are a bright confirmation of this," Putin said.

 

Source: ITAR-TASS 31-08-2016

DPR says OSCE monitors refuse to register shelling in Donetsk’s outskirts

The Russian officers of the monitoring mission and the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control later started investigating the incident.

KIEV, August 29. /TASS/. The monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine have declined to register the aftermath of the overnight artillery shelling of Yasinovataya, to the north of Donetsk, the operative command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said on Monday.

"The OSCE monitors have refused to register the consequences of the overnight artillery shelling of Yasinovataya’s residential quarters carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces explaining it away as coming from poor security in the area," a representative of the command told the Donetsk News Agency.

The operative command said the OSCE SMM staff members left the scene of the shelling after briefly assessing the damage to private houses. The Russian officers of the SMM and the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination later started investigating the incident.

DPR’s positions in the industrial area near Yasinovataya are currently under fire, a correspondent of the Donetsk News Agency reported. The shelling scene can be observed from the area where the inspectors are working.

A representative of the DPR operative command said that the shelling of Yasinovataya’s outskirts was conducted from 122mm-caliber artillery weapons and damaged a three-story house, a gas pipeline and power lines.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 30-08-2016

Crimean leader backs proposal for peninsula to hold Paralympic events

The entire Russian team has not been allowed to compete in this year’s Paralympic Games.

SIMFEROPOL, August 29. /TASS/. Crimea’s Head Sergey Aksyonov has approved of the idea that the Black Sea peninsula should host special competitions for Paralympians that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested organizing.

"I fully back the idea that Crimea should hold alternative competitions for athletes who have been denied the right to participate in the Paralympics by sports officials," the press service cited Aksyonov as saying.

The Crimean leader said the decision to suspend the Russian Paralympic Committee was "unprecedentedly insolent and cynical." "We understand the reasons behind this - its impotent rage. Russia’s enemies see that all their attempts of harming this country have failed. They tried to take it out on our Olympic athletes - but they failed, and now they are venting their spite on people with disabilities… Once again they have made the whole world understand that they have neither legal nor moral norms," he stressed.

Restrictions against Russia’s Paralympic movement were introduced in the wake of the investigation by the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) headed by Richard McLaren. On July 22, after receiving information about 35 Russian Paralympians whose names were mentioned in the WADA commission’s report, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) opened a case against the RPC.

On August 7, IPC head Philip Craven announced that the Committee would not let the Russian team compete at the Summer Paralympic Games scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro from September 7 to 18. Last week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed an appeal filed by the Russian Paralympic Committee to fight the ban on Russian athletes from next month’s Paralympic Games. So, the entire Russian team has not been allowed to compete in this year’s Paralympic Games.

President Putin said on Thursday the country would organize special competitive events for Paralympians at which they could demonstrate their skills. In addition, winners would receive prizes on par with those of the Olympics.

Earlier, Deputy Head of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veteran Affairs, Member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Paralympic Committee Mikhail Terentyev said such Games should be held in Sochi or in Crimea.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 29-08-2016

Protesters pelt Ukrainian embassy in Moscow with eggs

The protesters chanted the slogans: "Hands Off Our Diplomats!" "Fascism Won’t Pass!" and "Junta Must Be Brought to Account!"

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. A group of young people gathered near the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to protest against an attack by Ukrainian radicals on a Russian federal agency in Kiev, a TASS correspondent reports from the scene.

The protesters chanted the slogans: "Hands Off Our Diplomats!" "Fascism Won’t Pass!" and "Junta Must Be Brought to Account!" The protesters set alight flares and pelted the embassy with eggs.

The police asked the protesters to disperse as the action had not been authorized. After that, the youths left the scene, chanting the slogans: "We Remember Odessa, Remember Donbass!" and "We Won’t Forget, We Won’t Forgive!"

Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian radicals attacked the building of the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) in Kiev. The radicals hurled smoke pellets at the mission’s building and painted the walls with their insignia. Police arrived at the scene. However, none of the attackers was detained.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 28-08-2016

Ukraine Contact Group agrees on indefinite 'peace and quiet order' as of August 31

Members of the Contact Group for the settlement in eastern Ukraine have completed talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

MINSK, August 26. /TASS/.  Members of the Contact Group for the settlement in eastern Ukraine have completed talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk, Viktoria Talakina, a spokesperson for envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin wrote on Facebook: 

 "The Contact Group meeting has come to an end. The next meeting will be held on September 7."

According to Martin Sajdik, the OSCE's special representative in the Group, the parties to the Contact Group for settling the armed civil conflict in eastern Ukraine have come to terms on the importance of an indefinite 'peace and quiet order' along the line of contact, which separates the pro-Kiev armed units and the forces of the self-proclaimed unrecognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as of August 31.

"The Contact Group and the participating representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk have spoken about the importance of an indefinite ceasefire as of midnight August 31 in connection with the start of a new school year," he said.

In many parts of the former Soviet Union, the school year begins traditionally on September 1.

"I am making a personal appeal to the (conflicting) sides to express their top-level support for it," Sajdik said.

He recalled he made an identical statement last year.

"Unfortunately, twelve months have passed since then but we have to do it once again," Sajdik said. "I'm obliged to say thesed are the joint initiatives of all the members of the Contac Group and I hope children will have an opportunity to begin the school year without a problem."

 

Russian envoy urges parties to conflict in Donbass to establish open-ended cease-fire

According to the Russian representative in the Contact Group, Boris Gryzlov, the key task of the Group’s agenda is to work out concrete measures designed to de-escalate Donbass conflict. 

"Steps designed to de-escalate the conflict is the key item on the agenda. No one needs an armed confrontation," Gryzlov said commenting the Contact Group’s negotiations held on Friday.

According to Gryzlov, the granting of a special status to Donbass permanently; the constitutional reform, amnesty and elections fully meet the interests of Ukraine and Europe.

"Therefore, we are determined to continue working on the solution of political, socio-economic and humanitarian problems," Gryzlov stressed.

He called on the Kiev government and the ruling coalition of political forces in Ukraine to undertake a commitment to clearly reflect all the agreements, reached in Minsk, in Verkhovna Rada’s laws.

Gryzlov believes that the disengagement of the armed units of the warring parties in concrete places was another vital security task.

"That will decrease a possibility of provocations and will contribute to observation of the ceasefire regime. But I would like to call your attention to my approach: I believe that the solution of security issues should be parallel to the process of political settlement," Russia’s representative in the Contact Group said.

"Any unilateral attempts to adopt documents on the constitutional reform and elections in Donbass without prior agreement with the other party will not be constructive at least and are unlikely to contribute to establishing peace," Gryzlov stressed adding there was very little time left before September 1.

"We are calling on the sides in conflict to establish a full and infinite ceasefire by the start of a new academic year," Gryzlov concluded.

 

DPR calls on OSCE to probe into use of GRAD rockets by Ukrainian military

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s envoy to the Contact Group for a settlement in Donbass, Denis Pushilin, has urged the OSCE mission in Ukraine to probe into the bombardments of the Donetsk Republic with GRAD rockets, Pushilin’s press secretary Viktoria Talakina said on Friday.

"At a meeting in Minsk Denis Pushilin expressed indignation over Ukraine’s actions and urged the OSCE to take a harder line to investigate the August 19 attack with multiple rocket launchers GRAD."

She said that on August 25 the Ukrainian military shelled the republic once again with prohibited 122-mm and 152-mm weapons. A bombardment in the small hours of August 25 left two civilians dead, six others injured and 14 homes damaged.

The Contact Group’s on security, humanitarian, economic and political issues also held meetings in Minsk earlier in the day. 

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 27-08-2016